Rachel Maddow - Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power

SUN, APR 1, 2012
(57:53)

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Rachel Maddow discusses her book, Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power. Drift argues that the U.S. has drifted away from its original ideals and become a nation weirdly at peace with perpetual war, with all the financial and human costs that entails. To understand how we’ve arrived at such a dangerous place, Maddow explores numerous changes that have taken place from the Vietnam War to today’s war in Afghanistan. She discusses the rise of executive authority, the gradual outsourcing of war-making capabilities to private companies, the plummeting percentage of American families whose children fight in wars, and even the changing fortunes of G.I. Joe. Ultimately, she demonstrates just how much could be lost by allowing the priorities of national security to overpower political discourse.